Aug 5 Weekly Happy Links: May The Thoughts Be With You

{This week: May The Thoughts Be With You, burnout, dating, Microsoft Pix, and more.}

Hi all,

This week was full and lovely. I poured my energy into editing and updating my online journaling course, Write to Flourish. The course is filled with a great mix of people, both alumni and new students. I hope you’ll join us for the upcoming session.

In addition to lots of writing and editing, I attended a wonderful event on Tuesday—hosted by JEDI—about business and marketing, visited my mom, swam lots of laps, and stuck with my journaling and photography practices. I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted, but at least I read a lot!

And speaking of good reads, below are 10 happy links that inspired me this week. I hope you enjoy them, too!

4. I’ve been experimenting with Microsoft Pix, and so far I really like the app.

5. Wise words via Jack Hitt: “I’ve always lived more or less unemployed in these markets, and happily so. I think being unemployed keeps you a little more sharp in terms of looking for stories. It never gets any easier. That motivation and that desperation, whatever you want to call that, is still very much behind many of the conversations I have all day long trying to find those threads, those strings, that are going to pull together and turn into something.”

8. Sandra Pawula—who blogs at Always Well Within—asked me if I removed the social media sharing buttons from my website. I told her no. For some reason, they disappeared, so I added a few simple sharing buttons to the bottom of each post. If you’d like to share my work, now it’s a little easier. (Thanks, Sandra!)

9. A few weeks ago, I was in Ashland, OR and I bought Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Woman and Alcohol by Ann Dowsett Johnston. Drink is a memoir, and it’s also filled with fascinating research and important cultural critiques of high-risk drinking in the Western world. Johnston raises important questions about drinking at social gatherings, the supposed benefit of drinking a glass of wine every day, and “the clear causal link between alcohol and a wide variety of cancers, including two of the most frequently diagnosed: breast and colorectal."

The following words by Johnston struck me:

“For many, red wine ranks up there with vitamin D, omega-3s, and dark chocolate. If one glass is good for you, a double dose can’t do much harm, can it? Actually, a double dose has its drawbacks. The largest health benefit comes for one drink every two days. Which raises a simple question: why are we aware of the dangers related to trans fats and tanning beds and blissfully unaware of the more serious side effects associated with our favorite drug? It’s a head-scratcher, to say the least.”

10. The Minimalist’s film—Minimalism—is doing great. The film opened in theaters as the #1 indie documentary of 2016. A few months ago, Joshua sent me a screener to watch, and I really enjoyed the film. Also, I’m honored that they included part of my story in the documentary. You can purchase the film—plus 6 hours of bonus content—here.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my weekly happy links roundup and want to support it, then buy a book, share this post with a friend, or register for Write to Flourish.